JCGC Honors Founders and Celebrates Unique History
Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati (JCGC) will honor its three founders and celebrate the organization’s unique history at a reception on Sunday, October 12, 2014. The event will be held from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at Adath Israel Congregation located at 3201 E. Galbraith Rd. in Cincinnati, Ohio. The organization’s three founders, Dr. Edward Herzig, Michael Oestreicher and Edward Marks, will be honored.
The celebration, presented by The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health, will feature videos and a program book highlighting the founders’ role in their collaboration with many other community leaders to create JCGC. The keynote speaker will be Rabbi Gary Zola, a well-known historian and popular public speaker, who holds the positions of Executive Director of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives and Professor of the American Jewish Experience at Hebrew Union College.
"Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati is a unique organization. It’s truly the only one of its kind in the nation where virtually all the cemeteries in the community are owned and operated by one organization. Rabbi Zola will talk about how innovative JCGC is and the historical significance JCGC has in the local Jewish community and nationally," says JCGC Executive Director, David Hoguet. "We know everyone attending the event will find the history of this organization and its founders’ foresight fascinating," Hoguet adds.
The first Jewish cemetery in Greater Cincinnati dates back to 1821. Since that time, 26 Jewish cemeteries have been formed in Hamilton and Butler Counties. JCGC was incorporated in 2004. Recognizing that many of the forming congregations had ceased to exist, similar problems faced all the cemeteries, and that the leadership base was aging, a small group of community leaders embarked on a multi-year study of these issues with the leaders of these cemeteries in the late 1990’s. Ultimately 22 Jewish cemeteries determined that it was in their mutual best interest to create a new, merged organization, JCGC, which would assume responsibility for the perpetual care of the existing cemeteries and the creation of such new cemeteries as will be necessary to serve the Jewish community’s future needs.
"JCGC is a collaboration between the Jewish community, rabbinic community, the Jewish Federation and, importantly, the Jewish Foundation, the major funder of the project. We are thrilled to be honoring the organization’s three founders who started the process that ensures the long-term sustainability of all of our area’s Jewish cemeteries,&quuot; says JCGC President, Brad Kaplan.
"The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health has its own place in Jewish history here in Cincinnati," says Yousuf J. Ahmad, Cincinnati Market President & CEO for Mercy Health. "We are proud to support our community through the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati project.&qupt;
JCGC is comprised of 22 Jewish cemeteries, almost all of the Jewish cemeteries in Cincinnati and Hamilton, Ohio. Those cemeteries include: Adath Israel Cemetery, American Beneficial Cemetery, Beth Tefyla Cemetery, Beth Jacob/Price Hill Congregation Cemetery , Beth Hamedrash Hagodol Cemetery, Golf Manor Cemeteries #1, 2, and 3, Hirsh Hoffert Cemetery, Judah Touro Cemetery, Montefiore Cemetery, New Hope Cemetery, Northern Hills Cemetery, Love Brothers Cemetery, Tifereth Israel Cemetery, Chestnut Street Cemetery, Clifton Cemetery, Hamilton Cemetery, Montgomery Cemetery, Price Hill Cemetery, Walnut Hills Cemetery and Yad Chorutzim Cemetery. JCGC represents the culmination of more than 10 years of community efforts to address the financial, succession, upkeep and other challenges facing many Jewish communities. Cincinnati is a leader nationally in creating this organizational model to take care of its cemeteries in perpetuity.
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